What?!

This is what I like to call "compassionate conservatism." Or, "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." You can find the article here. Also, the best part are people's comments at the bottom. People think he faked the whole thing. Thanks, Erin

Mirecki treated after roadside beating

By Eric Weslander (Contact)

Tuesday, December 6, 2005

Douglas County sheriff’s deputies are investigating the reported beating of a Kansas University professor who’s gained recent notoriety for his Internet tirades against Christian fundamentalists and Catholics.

Religious studies professor Paul Mirecki said he was beaten early Monday morning on the side of the road in rural Douglas County by two unidentified men who’d been tailgating him in a large pickup truck. Mirecki said his attackers made references to the controversy that has propelled him into the headlines in recent weeks.

“I didn’t know them, but I’m sure they knew me,” he said.

Mirecki said in a phone interview that the incident happened as he was “going out for breakfast, taking a drive and thinking about things.” He declined to say exactly where it happened, and the sheriff’s department did not release the location, except to say it was south of Lawrence.

Mirecki said that when the pickup truck began tailgating him, he stopped his vehicle hoping it would pass. Instead, the men pulled up directly behind him, he said.

Paul Mirecki, chair of the KU religious studies department.

“They got out, and I made the mistake of getting out,” he said.

Mirecki said the beating began almost instantly. The men punched him about the head and shoulders and struck him with a metal object, he said.

About 6:40 a.m., sheriff’s deputies were called to Lawrence Memorial Hospital to take a report on the incident. Mirecki was treated at the hospital and released.

“I’m mostly shaken up, and I got some bruises and sore spots,” he said.

The sheriff’s office is classifying the case as an aggravated battery. On Monday afternoon, the office asked for the public’s help finding the suspects. Mirecki described them as two white males between the ages of 30 and 40, one wearing a red visor and wool gloves and both wearing jeans.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 843-TIPS or the sheriff’s office at 841-0007.

“The information that we have is pretty basic,” Lt. Kari Wempe said. “Our investigators are working on it right now.”

Mirecki recently wrote online that he planned to teach intelligent design as mythology in an upcoming course. He wrote it would be a “nice slap” in the “big fat face” of fundamentalists.

The remarks caused an uproar, Mirecki apologized, and KU announced last week the class would be canceled. Mirecki also has been criticized for online postings he made about Catholicism dating back to 2003.

As news of Monday’s events spread, Mirecki’s supporters expressed shock.

“This whole incident is starting to cast doubt that I can actually share my thoughts effectively without someone waiting for me at my car,” said Kansas University student Andrew Stangl, president of KU’s Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics.

One of Mirecki’s most vocal critics, conservative activist John Altevogt, said he couldn’t imagine anyone he knows doing such a thing.

“This should be investigated thoroughly, and whoever did this should be punished to the full extent of the law. You don’t beat people for either their faith or their lack thereof,” he said.

But Altevogt said he was skeptical about whether Mirecki’s report was legitimate.

“He (Mirecki) has very little credibility left,” Altevogt said. “The one thing that could save his bacon is to become a martyr of sorts, or to elicit sympathy from being the victim rather than the persecutor.”

When told that some people were questioning the truth of his report, Mirecki fired back.

“The right wing wants blood, period. They’re not going to stop until they see blood. They’re not into anything else,” he said. “Whatever I do, whatever I say, they don’t believe anything because that’s the way they are... I know what happened. I got the hell beat out of me. They can say what they want.”

KU religious studies professor Tim Miller said he saw Mirecki on Monday and that he looked “scraped up.”

— Staff writer Ron Knox and 6News reporter Brooke Wehner contributed information to this article.

Comments

Note: LJWorld.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full policy.

Posted by Jclarkson (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 5:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)

get well soon Mirecki.

Posted by Sandman (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 5:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)

What a soap opera.

To quell the critics who think Mirecki staged this, perhaps he could take a lie detector test?

Posted by plumberscrack (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 5:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Something "smells" with this. I'm sure there will be more to follow with this story.

Posted by Jane (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 6:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Here we go.....

Posted by Jayhawk226 (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 6:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I'm starting to think that I didn't move to Kansas and instead ended up in Texas.

I gotta get the heck outta the Bible belt.

Posted by cpenning (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 6:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)

The article says that Mirecki "gained recent notoriety for his Internet tirades against Christian fundamentalists and Catholics." I am only aware of the one mailling list email that was made public, and I don't remember it saying anything about Catholics (granted, the press has only reported the most inflammatory snippets from that one email.) Has there been anything other than the SOMA email(s)?

Posted by sharron5rs (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 7:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Musta been a light beating, cause the people I know that have been beat, have not been able to drive themselves to the hospital.

Posted by trinity (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 7:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)

i'm wondering why a description of the alleged truck hasn't been given? i mean, if somebody is following me, surely you can see in your rearview the make&color of a vehicle, no?

this all just sux really bad...staged, not staged, whatever; it just reeks.

Posted by macon47 (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 7:30 a.m.

(This comment was removed by the site staff.)

Posted by rtwngr (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 7:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)

It was me and my partner "freethoughtgranolachomp". Except it wasn't a truck it was a VW microbus. We didn't exactly beat him we chanted mantras at him. He laughed, fell down and then started crying. We got scared, got back in the VW, smoked a bong, and then got lost somewhere aroung Lone Star Lake.

Posted by ive_got_my_ascot_n_my_dickie (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 7:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)

This type of staged "beating" happened several years ago to a talk show host named Morton Downey Jr. He did it to gain sympathy when he felt the establishment was against him. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Posted by just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 7:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Sounds like all you rightwing wack jobs are getting to display the closest thing you have to tolerance-- schadenfreude.

Posted by wendt (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 7:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Jane's right. The Yahoos are out.

cpenning: My understanding that is that the comments in question were only made on the SOMA board, which, surprisingly enough, is almost exclusively read by atheists and agnostics.

Not a public forum but not agressively private. I would say pretty niche. Like going to a warmaraner board.

I underline "almost".

Posted by crono (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 7:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Several things here don't seem to add up to me:

1. If a pickup truck was driving behind you in the early morning in a deserted rural area, and two men got out holding a large metal object, and you were still in your car, would you get out to go talk with them?

2. Where was he going to have breakfast south of Lawrence at 6 AM?

3. How did those in the pickup truck find him? Were they waiting at his house? In that case Dr. Mirecki should have noticed them right away. How would they just randomly find him in the middle of the country?

4. As has been mentioned above, why no more precise description of the vehicle? Kansas law requires license plates on the front of the vehicle; from where Dr. Mirecki was standing, it seems this should have been plainly visible to him. Wouldn't he have noted that when the altercation clearly was to become violent (or after it became violent)?

5. A beating for one minute? Just about the head and shoulders? As has been mentioned above, not much of a beating as far as beatings go.

6. It has been reported that they made remarks about the recent controversy. What exactly did they say?

7. Dr. Mirecki's description of the perpetrators: "two white males between the ages of 30 and 40, one wearing a red visor and wool gloves and both wearing jeans". That could be nearly anybody.

I don't mean to be insensitive to Dr. Mirecki. No one deserve to be beaten, and if he was beaten for his remarks, that is a despicable evil. But the lack of detail and consistency in this story really leaves me wondering whether Dr. Mirecki's account is fabricated.

Posted by even_money (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 7:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)

You would think he was trying to teach a course on the mythology of rednecks.

And they wished to remind him that rednecks are very real.

Get well soon, bub!

Posted by wendt (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 7:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Dr. Mirecki has a doctorate from Harvard in Theology,
published multiple books and articles,
taught at KU for over a decade,
is nationally known,

but he ain't good enough because he didn't cover "a$$kickin" in Boston.

What a bunch of morons.

Posted by blue73harley (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 8 a.m. (Suggest removal)

IF an assault did occur, the Prof was incredibly STUPID for getting out of his vehicle. If a pickup truck full of rednecks pulls up behind you on an isolated road, you should shove it into overdrive! BTW - given the hospital call to the sheriff was at 6:40, not only was the road isolated, it was dark. Sunrise is after 7.

Posted by cavtrooper (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 8:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Reminds me of another professor (not at KU) who claimed her car was vandalized by "right wing Bush supporters" after she made some inflamatory comments prior to the last election.
(I thought they were fairly mild, but hey..)
Turned out this pillar of the community trashed her car herself and filed a false police report.
Something smells, but if he was assulted as he claims I hope the perps get the full extent of the law.
Somehow I don't think they will get caught.....

Posted by kansasboy (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 8:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)

HAHAHAHAHAHA. I think the beating was just a BIG MYTH!

Posted by KayCee (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 8:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)

To all the common people this report 'smelled' the first we heard it. If they find the 'two', I'll admit there are a few 'nuts' in this world who do these things, but I'm not holding my breath. Crono posted a list of good questions and comments.

Posted by aeroscout17 (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 8:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Cronon wrote "Kansas law requires license plates on the front of the vehicle..."

Not sure where you are from but no it doesn't.

If Mirecki did fabricate this, I am sure the SO will figure it out. Unfortunately, if the beating did occur, it wouldn't surprise me. A state full of close-minded individuals that doesn't allow academic freedom is sure to have some even more extreme individuals (e.g., Fred Phelps) that would do something like this.

Posted by crono (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 8:27 a.m. (Suggest removal)

You're right, it is the back of vehicles, not the front... my bad. Still suspicious to me that he didn't notice the plate as it was driving away, then, though.

Posted by yourworstnightmare (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 8:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Just like ID, the conspiracy theories that Mirecki did this to himself are simply wishful thinking on the part of right-wing fundamentalists.

Posted by Azure_Attitude (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 8:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Sounds like Jeff County vigilate justice to me. anyone remeber Wild Bill the cabbie. this was in 1981, Bill dabled in herbs and white truckers (sold at Raney's, the stuff was actually Haysthme). Consequently , his wife didn't like the folks hanging around or living here and talked him in to moving near Oskie. His siste-in-law lived with them and was selling acid at the high school. Though she was getting it from elsewhere, and unbeknownst to him, the locals blamed Bill. The Jeff County goon squad hired his cab near the Lawrence Opera House (now Liberty Hall) and took him out near Wells Overlook where, acccording to Sherrif Rex Johnson, he was "accidentally" run over multiple times. Watch your back Prof. I suggest getting a team of Pastafarians in full pirate regalia to accompany you wherever you go. i know you regard no diety, but I will pray to the Goddess and the God for your safety. Let mw know if you feel you need a protetion spell. I'd be happy to oblige.

Posted by The_Original_Bob (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 8:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Crono - 1,2,4,5,7 of your points are exactly what I was wondering. I'm not willing to make the argument he faked/staged this, but there are some questions that should be answered.

In any event, the lunatics on the fringes of both sides of this debate are doing their best to make the ID/Evolution discussion a farce leaving the rest of us wondering why in the world we support one side or the other (me ... I'm on the evolution side) knowing we'd get lumped in as a "fundie" or an "God-hater". Really, this battle is technically in neutral right now until the lawsuits against the State Board are filed. And then you got the inevitable challenge to the Supreme Court (regardless the ruling), elections, and so forth. This isn't going away anytime soon. Sit back, enjoy, and be respectful of your neighbor.

Posted by ive_got_my_ascot_n_my_dickie (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 8:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)

"Dr. Mirecki has a doctorate from Harvard in Theology,
published multiple books and articles"
==========
Wow, that's very impressive. With that much intellect, you'd think he would have been smart enough to get a license plate number.

Posted by jranderson (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 8:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Does anyone else see how silly all of this is? Maybe it's not silly anymore if someone was actually hurt. At first I thought "I can't believe this." Then I thought, "No, wait, I can." THEN I read the comments and couldn't believe people were STILL fighting over it. After this! And how insensitive we all are.

Posted by KUHSKR3 (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 8:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I really like the "myth of the redneck".... ha!

but please... who the HELL would stage a beating? of any kind? And most men I know WOULD get out of their car... I mean, he may be a professor but in fear, that testostorone thing kicks in!!!!!

I have a couple questions... at 6:30.. is it still DARK??

most of the professors I know tend to be WAY behind the times.... did he HAVE a cell phone???? perhaps not!

I think there is a lot of crap flinging going on here... if you were stopped and approached by two men... who on EARTH knows what you would have done IN THE MOMENT!

I'm sure there will be more info to come on this!

I"m not much of a Christian, but please - judge not - lest... you get the point.

Posted by ksmattfish (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 8:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)

"Maybe it's not silly anymore if someone was actually hurt."

But he was an enemy of the Christian right, so it is funny, and appropriate behavior. The laws that were broken were merely laws of goverment, not the laws of God. He's lucky he wasn't stoned to death. Possibly this experience will make him see that his blasphemous freedom of speech will not be tolerated under the Lord.

1) Ban books (except The Book).
2) Dilute the quality of education for the youth.
3) Beat up the intellectuals.

Ahh yes, the plan is coming together nicely....

Posted by wendt (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 9 a.m. (Suggest removal)

ive_got_my_ascot_n_my_dickie:

I'll bet Dr. Mirecki thought he was living in Lawrence KS at the time, where violence rarely happens.

It's one of the reasons I moved here.

If the ignorant, uneducated yahoos create a city where professors aren't safe, then professors won't teach here.

Did that ever dawn on anyone??

Anyone can be sucker punched.

Posted by pepper_bar (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 9:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)

i hear the cops filed the professor's statement under: Mirecki's Beating and Other Mythologies.

Posted by dirkleisure (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 9:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)

What a fool! He didn't look up from his beating to get a license plate number! And the full details of his attack aren't being published in a news story!

You think maybe the full details are in the hands of the authorities and not in the hands of Brooke Wehner? Did you consider that for even a second?

Besides, isn't just the BELIEF he was attacked enough? You don't have to actually have a WITNESS or DOCUMENTED FACTS in order for something to be true. It's called Intelligent Design.

"I have a lot of questions after reading this story, so it must not be true." You're a stay at home schmuck who posts way too much on the local paper's website.

Leave the investigating to the authorities; go back to making inane comments about "science" and watching the 700 Club.

Posted by OldEnuf2BYurDad (anonymous) on December 6, 2005 at 9:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Obviously, it is clear that it was dumb to get out of his car the way he did. Even he agrees with that. But, remember: at 6:40 it's danged DARK out. I can see why he didn't get a good description. Also, he didn't get into a fight. He was attacked. There is a big difference between those concepts. When you are on the ground, trying to avoid the blows, you aren't asking the guy "are you six feet tall, or closer to 5'10?... hold still while I get a good look at your tatoos... is your truck a Chevy or a GMC?..."

By the way, if I'm up at 6:00 a.m. on the south side of town, I'm heading RIGHT for First Watch (there must be a number of good resaurants open at 6 a.m., Crono). You people act like this is SOOOOO suspicious. Man, some of these posts make Lawrence look like we are a bunch of morons.

Also, please quit calling these attackers fundamentalist. The fundamentals of Christianity says to NOT do this kind of thing. We sing a song at church called 10,000 Angels that talks about how if Jesus had wanted to, he could have called 10,000 angels to save him from suffering on the cross, but instead chose to die. Spiritually minded people understand that God does not need us to fight (literally) his battles on the playground with the class bully. If God as issues with Mireki, God is big enough to handle it without me or anyone else swinging a pipe at his head on a country road.

My opinion: God protected Mireki on that road. Two guys, a metal pipe... he shouldn't be walking and talking right now.

These bozos who attacked him are just misguided sickos who are so dumb they have probably already been caught. PLEASE do not call them fundamental Christians. They threw out the fundamentals when they came up with this plan.